This invention relates to the field of toboggan used by ski patrols to evacuate an injured person from a mountainside.
Downhill skiing and snowboarding involves risk of injury. Typically a ski resort or the like provide assistance and first aid services administered by trained xe2x80x9cski patrolxe2x80x9d personnel. When a skier or snowboarder is injured, ski patrol personnel attend at the scene of the accident and at their first safe opportunity evacuate the injured person from the mountain or ski hill for later treatment in hospital if necessary.
An injured person is typically evacuated by the use of a toboggan. The toboggan may have shallow sides and be sufficiently long so that the injured person may be laid prone within the toboggan. The toboggan may have a generally parallel pivotally mounted pair of rigid handles which may be pivoted so as to extend the handles from one end of the toboggan allowing a ski patrol attendant to hold the handles while standing and skiing between the handles. In this fashion, the descent of the toboggan may be controlled. Additionally, other ski patrol personnel may use guide cables, for example extending in a V-shape from the toboggan, so as to assist in controlling the descent of the toboggan.
It is quite often necessary to send a toboggan uphill mounted onto a ski lift chair on available ski lift facilities. In the prior art, such mounting has been difficult, often requiring a separate mounting apparatus affixed to the ski chair, the use of such apparatus made cumbersome by the often inclement conditions.
In summary, the rescue toboggan of the present invention includes at least one hook arm mounted generally medially along the length of the toboggan. The hook arm extends away from the toboggan and has a rigid cantilevered member cantileverable over the toboggan so as to engage a portion of a chair lift underneath the cantilevered member, between the cantilevered member and the toboggan so that lifting translation of the chair lift causes corresponding lifting translation of the toboggan.
The toboggan may have a pair of pivoting handles pivotally mounted thereto. The hook arm may be mounted to at least one of the handles. The hook arm may be pivotally mounted to the handles, one hook per handle, or for example, a single hook arm extending between the handles, so that the cantilevered member is pivotable between a lowered stowed position and an extended position operatively cantilevered and spaced apart from the handles. The hook arm may be U-shaped and the opposite ends of the U-shape may be pivotally mounted to opposite handles of the pair of pivoting handles.
The pair of pivoting handles are pivotally mounted at ends thereof at a first end of the toboggan. Distal ends of the handles are adjacent an opposite second end of the toboggan when the handles are pivoting so as to lay generally flush along the toboggan. The distal ends of the handles are laterally spaced apart sufficiently to allow a user to stand between the distal ends while holding the distal ends.
The hook arm may be mounted to the toboggan so as to align the cantilevered member over a center of gravity of the toboggan for stable lifting translation of the toboggan by the chair lift. The cantilevered member may be adapted to fit over a seat portion of the chair lift.
The hook arm may include a support member rigidly mounted at one end thereof to the cantilevered member, and at an opposite end pivotally mounted to the toboggan. The support member spaces the cantilevered member over the toboggan so as to engage the cantilevered member over the chair lift seat when the toboggan is stationary on a chair lift loading ramp and the chair lift seat is translated over the loading ramp so as to slide under the cantilevered member into abutting engagement abutted against the support member.
The distal ends of the handles may be releasably lockable to the second end of the toboggan by a first releasable fastener. The cantilevered member when in the stowed position may be releasably locked to the handles by a second releasable fastener. The first releasable fastener may be a patient restraining belt mounted in the toboggan. The second releasable fastener may be a resilient cord.